Challah Reverie

I had wanted to make challah for years, but did not get around to it until recently, inspired by some of you food bloggers out there! While I am not a big fan of plain challah for eating (then again, I'm not a connoisseur), it is one of the best breads you can use for french toast or bread pudding.

As I've mentioned before, the Daring Bakers potato bread challenge inspired me to return to bread-baking after a hiatus of many years. What was I waiting for? Why not tackle a bread that has few equals in beauty, and that has such a rich history?

So, on a recent lazy afternoon, the kind where you just want to curl up with a good book and take a nap, I wandered into the kitchen with my two sous chefs, and made Sweet Vanilla Challah from Beth Hensperger's book,The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes. I'm not going to write out the recipe here because I did not adapt it in any way, but you can find a comparable recipe over at Ari's blog, one of my favorites, Baking and Books. In fact, Ari says that Hensperger's recipe was a source of inspiration for her Honey-Vanilla Challah.

This had to be the easiest, most peaceful bread baking experience I've ever had. Everything went smoothly. Shaping the dough was a breeze, and it puffed up - magically- in the oven, resulting in two gorgeous bronzed loaves of bread. We ate one (it tasted like . . . challah!), and I froze the other one to make Amaretto Bread Pudding in the near future.

This was so much fun, I'm diving into challah research, to see what other recipes and shapes I can play with. For me, the whole experience typified what I love best about baking: the peace, the challenge, and the feast for all the senses. Note: for more on making challah, and braiding instructions, see here and here.